South Attleboro station

South Attleboro is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Located underneath Newport Avenue in the South Attleboro neighborhood, it serves the Providence/Stoughton Line. It is the MBTA's southernmost station on the line in Massachusetts, located almost exactly on the border with Rhode Island. It includes a large park-and-ride lot to serve commuters from the nearby cities of Pawtucket and Central Falls.

South Attleboro
An outbound train arrives at South Attleboro in June 2013
Location	1315 Newport Avenue Attleboro, Massachusetts
Coordinates	41°53′51″N 71°21′21″W
Owned by	MBTA
Line(s)	Northeast Corridor
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	RIPTA: 1, 35
Construction
Parking	568 spaces ($2.00 fee)
Bicycle facilities	2 spaces
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	7
History
Opened	June 20, 1990
Traffic
Passengers (2018)	1,144 (weekday average boardings)[1]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station Providence toward Wickford Junction Providence/​Stoughton Line Attleboro toward South Station Providence Terminus Providence/​Stoughton Line (Special events) Attleboro toward Foxboro

History

Accessible mini-high platforms at the station

The footbridge in 2013, with two deteriorated staircases closed

Historically, there was no station on the site where the modern station now exists. (This is unusual; most stations opened under the MBTA have been located on the sites of former stations). The nearest stations were Hebronville, 2 miles to the east, and Pawtucket/Central Falls an equal distance to the west.[2] Hebronville closed long before the MBTA era, while Pawtucket/Central Falls closed on February 20, 1981 when Rhode Island stopped funding commuter rail service to Providence.[3]

In August 1987, the MBTA approved plans to build a new station at South Attleboro to relieve crowding at Attleboro station.[4] Commuter service returned to Providence on February 1, 1988, but the Pawtucket/Central Falls station remained closed.[3] The planned South Attleboro station site at Route 1A was located less than a mile east of the point where the line entered Rhode Island - thus allowing the MBTA to reach the Pawtucket/Central Falls market without a second stop in Rhode Island, which Rhode Island did not wish to pay for - and offered room for a parking lot whereas the downtown Pawtucket location did not.

The $3 million station was completed in September 1988; however, the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board (MAAB) refused to let the station open. The station did not meet state requirements for accessibility; the footbridge had only stairs and no ramps, and no high-level platforms had been built. The MAAB insisted on full-length high-level platforms, while the MBTA wished to build cheaper 30-foot (9.1 m)-long "mini-high" platforms.[5]

The MBTA's appeal of the MAAB ruling (which came two years before the Americans with Disabilities Act mandated accessibility nationwide) had system-wide impliciations, particularly for the then-inaccessible Green Line.[6] A judge ruled in favor of the MBTA, which constructed mini-high platforms and ramps to the footbridge. In March 1990, the MBTA and MAAB reached an agreement under which existing mini-high platforms would be extended to 45 feet (14 m) long, and would be installed at all commuter rail stations by 1997 (which did not occur).[7] South Attleboro station ultimately opened on June 20, 1990.[3][8] The station was the weekend terminus of the line until June 29, 2006, when Rhode Island began funding weekend service to Providence.[3]

In the 2010 Northeast Corridor Master Plan, Amtrak indicated long-term plans to add two outer station sidings and high-level platforms to South Attleboro, allowing Amtrak trains to pass stopped MBTA trains.[9] More immediately, portions of the station are in poor condition, with a 2012 report indicating that two sets of stairs were closed due to rust damage. Although the station has mini-high platforms for level boarding, certain ADA-required elements such as tactile platform edges are missing.[10] MBTA plans for a $4.9 million renovation, which would not have fixed the footbridge, were criticized by local officials.[11] In November 2019, $4 million for design of a more extensive renovation was approved by the MBTA Fiscal Management Board. The project will include a new footbridge with elevators, an improved bus stop, and changes to the parking lot.[12] Design work began in April 2020 and is expected to last 18 months.[13] Some repairs may be made in the interim.[14]

Bus connections

Until recently, South Attleboro had no bus connections. By federal law, bus systems like RIPTA that receive federal funds usually cannot cross state lines; thus, despite demand, RIPTA could not run directly to the station. In 2009, the agency considered building a $300,000 bus turnaround for the 77 (now 1) route just over the Rhode Island border.[15] In 2013, RIPTA began a two-year-long systemwide reorganization that includes combining, rerouting, and simplifying numerous bus routes; one specific objective of the project was to secure federal permission to run directly to South Attleboro.[16] As part of this, two routes now terminate directly at the station:

• 1: Eddy/Hope/Benefit (runs to T.F. Green Airport via Pawtucket and downtown Providence)
• 35: Rumford (runs to downtown Providence via Pawtucket and East Providence)

Although South Attleboro is within the GATRA service area, it has no close connections with GATRA routes. The nearest GATRA service is local bus routes 11 and 24, which run to downtown Pawtucket on Washington Street (US-1), a mile to the west.[17]

References

1. Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
2. "Attleboro & North Attleborough & Pawtucket & Providence 1890 Page 28". Atlas of Massachusetts (Prelim. Ed. 1884-1888), 1890. United States Geological Survey. 1890 – via Ward Maps.
3. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit.
4. Howe, Peter J. (August 23, 1987). "MBTA to build police facility, South Attleboro rail station". Boston Globe. p. 34 – via Newspapers.com.
5. Ackerman, Jerry (March 8, 1989). "T pressured to open all routes to disabled". Boston Globe. pp. 1, 16 – via Newspapers.com. (second page, third page)
6. Ackerman, Jerry (May 29, 1989). "Forest Hills streetcar service on hold". Boston Globe. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Rosenberg, Ronald (March 31, 1990). "Accord should improve commuter rail access for the disabled by '97". Boston Globe. p. 40 – via Newspapers.com.
8. Rosenberg, Ronald (July 30, 1990). "Starts and Stops: Old Colony line inspires a petition duel". Boston Globe. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
9. The NEC Master Plan Working Group (May 2010). "The Northeast Corridor Infrastructure Master Plan" (PDF). Part II: page 7. Amtrak.
10. Southeastern Massachusetts Metropolitan Planning Organization and Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (2012). "Commuter Rail" (PDF). 2012 Regional Transportation Plan. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
11. Hand, Jim (July 31, 2019). "Lawmakers want more repairs to South Attleboro train station". The Sun Chronicle.
12. Mia Ping-Chieh Chen (November 7, 2019). "MBTA board OK's Attleboro commuter line electrification, South Attleboro Station upgrades". The Sun Chronicle.
13. Brelsford, Laura (May 26, 2020). "SWA Initiatives—May 2020" (PDF). p. 8.
14. Hand, Jim (January 9, 2020). "South Attleboro rail overpass is safe, transportation chief says". The Sun Chronicle.
15. Barrett, Chris (24 December 2009). "RIPTA buses may stop near Mass. trains". Providence Business Journal. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
16. Landis, Bruce (21 May 2013). "RIPTA prepares to reorganize routes to improve service". Providence Journal. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
17. "Attleboro". Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority. Retrieved 10 July 2012.

External links

• MBTA - South Attleboro
• Station from Colvin Street on Google Maps Street View